Halifax — Halifax has been gaining traction as an international tourist destination for being home to some of the best craft beer on the East Coast of Canada.

The city currently boasts probably around 2,000 of the roughly 5,000 craft breweries in the province, but who can keep count anymore? Nine Locks Brewing was voted the best craft brewery in town by readers of the local independent newspaper The Coast. This verdict has caused some confusion among beer lovers, who would tell you their beer is sorta okay — not great overall compared to other offerings in the city.

The brewery has also been taking some heat on socials after long-overdue backlash on their Dirty Blonde marketing campaign. Popular meme account @nsbeermemes has been threatened with legal action by Nine Locks over bringing the grossness of the marketing campaign to the public eye, causing even more confusion as to how the brewery could come out on top of the vote.

The Manatee took a stroll around HRM and asked locals what they thought of this win for Nine Locks.

Lewis Harris of Tant ordered their Dirty Blonde one time at the Mic Mac Bar & Grill after reading a billboard along the Bedford highway suggesting their beer is similar to dirty blonde women from Dartmouth.

“I couldn’t believe it, it tastes just like my vitamin-o! Craft beer isn’t that bad after all — I had to vote for ’em! Though I can’t say much to the ‘dirty blondes from Dartmouth’ comparison — women don’t like me much.”

We also talked to some bearded dude wearing plaid from the north end who was enraged at the results of the local paper’s poll. He explained that oddly enough the best-rated brewery in the province by both major craft beer platforms Untappd and Beer Advocate also calls Halifax home but they didn’t even make the list.

“Oh my god, there are so many great options here, how could they be the winner? The only people who drink Nine Locks are like my parents’ age. Heck, the Keith’s craft offerings are better than Nine Locks! Clearly there was bias in The Coast‘s polling,” he ranted.

Finally, we talked to Mary (a blonde) from Dartmouth. Mary is on her road to Cicerone certification and an overall beer enthusiast. She admitted though she would like to stay unbiased, she usually avoids drinking Nine Locks. The “edgy” (some would say sexist) marketing campaign makes her feel uncomfortable.

“I think that’s how they gained so much of a following and won. They put out this marketing campaign that attracts the Karens and the Kyles of the world who wouldn’t typically choose craft beer. It’s cringy, but in an oversaturated market, it sells beer. Unfortunately, given the chance, I don’t think they will choose to do better.”